January 17, 2016

January 17, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) is based on automatic reinforcement. Automatic reinforcement constitutes the correspondence between the sound of your voice which you produce and what hear when you listen to yourself while you speak. Thus, automatic reinforcement of speech occurs because of the joining of your speaking and listening behavior. 

Someone must stimulate you to accomplish SVB, the joining of speaking and listening behavior. This text may stimulate you a little bit, but it would be much better if I could talk with you and let you listen to how I sound while I listen to myself while I speak. I will reinforce you when you ‘parrot’ Voice II. Once you produce Voice II, you will agree with me that reinforcement of Voice II hasn’t happened very often and that is why it is happening at such a low response rate in our lives.  

Students, who have been in my psychology class for the duration of a whole semester, have acquired conditioned reinforcement for the correspondence between listening and speaking behavior, as they were reinforced for the production of Voice II.  In the past Voice II was not reinforcing as nobody told you to listen to yourself. You were only told to listen to others.   

People tell me all the time that they have never listened to themselves prior to me telling them to do so. It often seems as if I am giving them permission to listen to themselves. Once they have been given that permission they experience and understand what SVB is. Prior to learning about this “ear-opener” people report being afraid to listen to themselves and not liking how they sound. New learning becomes possible because conditioned reinforcement results in the behavioral cusp called SVB.